Thaindian News

By Azera Rahman
New Delhi, July 12 (IANS) A large chunk of India’s 50-75 million disabled suffer every day as there are few dedicated services for them. But the pressing demand for trained human resources in the field has at least led many organisations to introduce disability studies as a career prospect.

Reena Khanna of the School of Rehabilitation Sciences (SRS), which is affiliated to Delhi University, said unlike a couple of years ago, a number of governmental and non-governmental institutes today offer courses in specific disabilities like autism and speech and hearing impairment.

“There is an acute shortage of trained human resources in the field of disability and development. Therefore, the demand for such professionals is definitely high. Recognising the gap, a number of institutes today are offering courses in disability, which naturally find a lot of takers,” Khanna told IANS.

After studying such a course, one can get jobs with NGOs, research organisations, child development centres and funding agencies. Immediate employment could also be had in schools and educational institutes as special educators and therapists.

SRS, for instance, offers two courses - postgraduate diplomas in developmental therapy and special education - and takes 20-25 students in each batch, although the number of applicants is much more.

Charulekha, the principal of SRS, said: “Until now we have trained hundreds of professionals in various parts of the country who have in turn gone ahead and pioneered services in the field of disability in places like Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Assam,” she said.

After persistent efforts by bodies like the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), an umbrella organisation of various NGOs working on the disability issue, the Election Commission ensured that voting centres - at least in the capital - were disabled-friendly with ramps for the physically handicapped.

However, the fight for other initiatives like making government websites disabled-friendly still remain a far cry.

Javed Abidi, director of NCPEDP, said: “India hasn’t invested as much as it should have in disability, whether on the welfare front or on its education.

There are hardly any books on disability. I can probably think of only three good books on the subject published here.”

“Having said that, there is definitely a big demand for disability studies and youngsters who want to study the subject have no choice but to either go abroad or intern in an NGO and get hands-on experience. It’s an effort worth lauding that institutes are now coming up to teach the subject,” Abidi told IANS.

According to Charulekha, the general trend is that more women are opting for the course than men.

“It is generally seen that courses on disability are more popular with women. Sometimes they could be a parent or a sibling of a person with disability. We also have specially abled people doing the courses,” she said.

Charulekha also said: “Courses like B.Ed should have a section so that prospective teachers are sensitised towards specially abled children. They will be able to recognise such specially abled kids and help them accordingly.”

The Spastic Society of Tamilnadu (SPASTIN) in Chennai and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy in Kolkata also offer courses on disability studies in the country. The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, offers a masters in social work with specific technical education on disability.

Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also has a nascent department on similar lines.

Abidi said they have now written to Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal for implementation of a plan that was under discussion during previous minister Arjun Singh’s time.

“According to that plan, there will be a full-fledged department on disability studies in five central universities of the country. Also, by 2020, all educational institutes will be made disabled- friendly,” Abidi said.

“Let’s hope it comes through,” he added.

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.p@ians.in)